The Trump administration released a 100-page State Department report on Monday accusing left-wing advocacy groups in the United States of having ties to Cuba. The document relies frequently on circumstantial and ideological links rather than direct connections, according to a review by Al Jazeera.
The report portrays Cuba as an ideological threat to the United States, using language that draws on Cold War-era framing. It argues that Cuba, led by a communist government, is working to subvert the U.S. from within. The document describes Cuba as the "connective tissue" of a global anti-American coalition.
The report draws a distinction between Soviet-era communism and Cuban ideology. "While Soviet communism was frequently driven by more practical great-power concerns -- the preservation of the Soviet empire and the defence of its material interests around the globe -- its Cuban successor was built around a near-singular obsession with the 'liberation' of the Global South from its Western colonial oppressors," it reads. "In the minds of the Cubans, there was only one path to this goal: the destruction of the Yankee imperialist regime."
The Democratic Socialists of America is the most prominent group named in the document. The report includes a section titled "Front Groups and Fellow Travellers" that attempts to connect left-wing organizations in the U.S. and around the world to Havana. The Trump administration acknowledged in the document that the DSA is not a Cuban asset, but argued that the group's growth shows how "native and organic ideological commitments of the American far left now mirror the interests" of the Cuban government.
The DSA is an activist organization whose stated mission is to support workers gaining power through democratic means. The report described the group as "a mass membership organisation operating openly in American electoral politics ... a growing bench of elected officials, and real influence inside the Democratic Party coalition." It went further, stating that "The DSA has built a national infrastructure dedicated to moving extreme-left politics from the margins into the mainstream -- and with it, a deep and abiding devotion to the Cuban regime."
The antiwar group Code Pink was also singled out in the report. Left-wing activists named in the document have rejected the accusations, saying the claims are designed to increase pressure on Cuba while intensifying a crackdown on dissent inside the United States.
